Call for applications to renew the Scientific Advisory Board of Santé publique France, the French national public health agency

Only complete applications will be considered.

As the Agency is committed to promoting health for all, at all stages of life and across the country, it strives to ensure that its governance bodies are able to fully apprehend all of these situations.

Applicants will be selected by a panel appointed  by the Agency, following an assessment of the information provided in the cover letter, the suitability of the candidates for the skills sought, and an analysis of any conflicts of interest. The selection panel will ensure that the skills and experience of the Scientific Advisory Board enable it to fully carry out its duties. It will also ensure that gender parity and diversity are taken into account when selecting candidates. 

Declarations of interests will be reviewed by the Internal Deontology Committee of Santé publique France.
Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their application by email by the Scientific Advisory Board secretariat after the Management Board has approved the list of members (during the last quarter of 2025).

Members will be appointed for four years by the Management Board. 

The composition of the Scientific Advisory Board is published on the Agency's website, and the declaration of interests of the members of the Scientific Advisory Board are published on the DPI SANTE portal. 

The duties of members of a Santé publique France expert committee are incompatible with participation in any other committee of the agency, including the Scientific Advisory Board, and with any direct contractual relationship with the agency.

The Scientific Advisory Board comprises twenty-seven members, including its chair, at least four of whom work or have worked abroad or in European or international organisations. The agency wishes to open up its Scientific Advisory Board to international participation.

Members are appointed for a four-year renewable term on the recommendation of the Director General, and by decision of the Chair of the Management Board, after approval of the list of members by the Management Board. They are chosen from among qualified scientists with expertise in the Agency's areas of competence and recruited following a call for applications, after examination of their professional background and interests, in accordance with the provisions of Article L. 1451-1 of the French Public Health Code.

The duties of a member of the Scientific Advisory Board are incompatible with membership of any other body of the agency and with any contractual relationship with it.

The chair of the Scientific Advisory Board shall be appointed from among its members by order of the Minister responsible for health, after consultation with the Scientific Advisory Board.

In the event of a vacancy for any reason, a new member shall be appointed under the same conditions for the remainder of the mandate of the person they replace.

The Scientific Advisory Board may call upon the assistance of any competent person to fulfill its missions.

The aim is to recruit individuals whose skills and experience will enable the Scientific Advisory Board to conduct a collective and comprehensive analysis of the Agency's scientific policy, examine how it implements all of its missions based on the best available scientific evidence, and analyse its various programmes in more detail.

Given the Agency's missions, members of the Scientific Advisory Board are expected to have: 

• Proven and recognised scientific expertise in public health through their work and publications, and extensive experience in applying this expertise across various fields of public health, as indicated below:
• An ability to understand the scientific strategy of a national public health agency dedicated to a population-based approach, as well as the scientific and operational challenges of its activities in the fields of surveillance, alert, prevention, health promotion, preparedness and response to health crises;
• Good knowledge/understanding of national and international issues and actors in the field of protecting and improving the health of populations and strengthening public health systems and services.

Candidates' experience in the following areas will be particularly sought after:

• Experience in developing and implementing scientific policy for a public health expert body;
• Experience in using knowledge and evidence to support public decision-making;
• Experience in designing, implementing and evaluating early warning, alert and surveillance systems;
• Experience in producing knowledge and evidence on public health interventions and their use in health prevention and promotion;
• Experience in producing knowledge to document the impacts of climate change on population health and to implement public policies and interventions aimed at reducing these impacts;
• Experience in collecting and analysing environmental data for cross-referencing with health data;
• Experience in producing knowledge to document social and territorial health inequalities and in evaluating public policies and interventions aimed at reducing them;
• Experience in producing, analysing and using public health indicators, particularly in assessing the public health burden of diseases and health determinants;
• Experience in applying innovations and innovative approaches to public health;
• Experience in supporting responses to health crises and evaluating government responses;
• Experience in designing and implementing public policies and interventions aimed at improving the health status of populations, including social marketing interventions;
• Experience in the economic and social evaluation of public health interventions;
• Experience in public health advocacy and the rollout of public health policies to the population;
• Knowledge of public health-related institutional capacity building problems, specifically with a field action and decision-making support perspective;

Operations

The members of the Scientific Advisory Board are appointed for a four-year term. 

The Scientific Advisory Board is convened by its Chair, or at the request of the Director General, or at the initiative of at least one third of its members, or at the request of the Management Board. It meets in plenary session at least three times a year, either in person or via web conference.

The agendas are prepared jointly by the chair of the Scientific Advisory Board, the Chief Scientist and the secretariat of the Scientific Advisory Board, which is provided by the Scientific and International division.

The minutes of the Scientific Advisory Board's meetings and the annual activity report are prepared by the Scientific Advisory Board's secretariat before being approved by the Scientific Advisory Board.

The opinions and recommendations of the Scientific Advisory Board are drafted by the Scientific Advisory Board, without the involvement of the Scientific Advisory Board secretariat. The same applies to the preparation of programme or management reviews, or evaluation reports requested by the Agency.

The Scientific Advisory Board may be required to work jointly with the Ethics and Professional Conduct Committee (CED) and/or the Dialogue and Orientation Committee (COD).

The Scientific Advisory Board may refer matters to the CED [4].

The members of the Scientific Advisory Board are bound by professional secrecy and discretion regarding any document or information that comes to their knowledge as members of the Scientific Advisory Board.

Members shall sign a "Confidentiality and Commitment Clause" and undertake to attend meetings regularly and to participate in any drafting or proofreading work required in the interim. They also undertake to familiarise themselves with the applicable deontological principles and to comply with them.

Members will be provided access to information held by Santé publique France that is necessary for the work requested.

Working language 

The working language of the Scientific Advisory Board will be adapted to the composition of the Scientific Advisory Board (French and/or English). 

Workload for members

To ensure optimal performance, the Scientific Advisory Board usually meets three times a year in plenary session (two two-day face-to-face meetings and one one-day or two half-day remote meetings). Ad hoc meetings may be organised when necessary, in particular in the context of working groups for specific activities (programme evaluation, review of the work programme, etc.), or joint working groups with members of the CED and the COD.  

Role and additional responsibilities of the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board

The chair of the Scientific Advisory Board [5] attends the Agency's Management Board meetings in an advisory capacity [5]. The Management Board meets three times a year.

The Chair is invited to present the annual activity report to the Management Board.

They may be invited to attend CED or COD meetings in order to liaise with these bodies.

Their workload is estimated at 10 to 12 days per year.

They are an ex officio member of the ANSES Scientific Advisory Board  , and may appoint a representative to sit on the Council. 

Travel and accommodation expenses are reimbursed in accordance with the conditions applicable to French civil servants.
Compensation for loss of income in the case of self-employed persons and compensation for time spent attending meetings and for work carried out shall be paid in accordance with the scale set by the Management Board of Santé publique France.

Your personal data will be processed under the responsibility of Santé publique France. Its processing is based on the execution of pre-contractual measures related to the application by the person concerned to the Scientific Advisory Board. 

• For unsuccessful candidates: CVs and application files will be deleted within three months of the end of the selection process.
• For successful candidates: 
  • CVs and application files will be kept for up to one year after the end of your term on the Scientific Advisory Board; 
  • Certain financial elements (bank details, proof of identity, etc.) that may be requested at a later stage, as they are necessary for the reimbursement of your travel expenses and allowances. In accordance with the law, this information must be kept for five years after the last payment.

The data will be processed by competent agents of Santé publique France and its subcontractors will have access to this information within the limits of what is necessary for the execution of their missions.

You may exercise your right of access, rectification and limitation concerning the other data by also contacting Santé publique France, data protection officer, 12 rue du Val d'Osne, 94415 Saint Maurice Cedex or dpo@santepubliquefrance.fr  (please mention the Scientific Advisory Board).

If you feel that your data rights have not been respected, you can file a complaint with the National Commission for Data Processing and Liberties (“commission nationale informatique et libertés“). For more information on these treatments: dpo@santepubliquefrance.fr